Hope for mining incentive plans to create 'opportunities and new jobs'

Mon 17 Mar 2014, 2:43 PM AEDT

The federal Member for Durack says a planned incentive scheme for junior exploration companies is critical to Australia's economy, as it will encourage new miners to make mineral discoveries in WA's north.

From July, the Abbott Government will provide tax offsets on smaller miners' exploration costs.

Durack MP Melissa Price says she understands junior miners' concerns about exploring in the Pilbara, given the limited access to rail and port facilities.

She says those issues will be tackled in the Federal Government's upcoming Northern Australia white paper.

"We need to determine what we're doing with infrastructure in the Pilbara," she said.

"That involves the rail network, it involves the quality of the roads but then it's also the port system, we have this multi-user port at Port Hedland and I understand that's already at full capacity.

"It's another problem that we have to solve but they are not insurmountable.

"If we don't explore, we don't have new deposits. New deposits create new opportunities and new jobs.

"We've got a lot of smaller companies in the Pilbara holding exploration licences. It's just not cost-effective for them to actually get a drill rig on site, so this is one way of incentivising investors and getting those junior miners out there to explore."